ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
RIVETING READS FEMALE-AUTHORED FICTION TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2024
ARGYLLE , ELLY CONWAY ( BANTAM )
A luxury train speeding towards Moscow and a date with destiny ; a CIA plane downed in the jungles of the Golden Triangle ; a Nazi hoard entombed in the remote mountains of South-West Poland ; a missing treasure , the eighth wonder of the world , lost for seven decades … One Russian magnate ’ s dream of restoring a nation to greatness has set in motion a chain of events which will take the world to the brink of chaos . Only Frances Coffey , the CIA ’ s most legendary spymaster , can prevent it . But to do so , she needs someone special . Enter Argylle , a troubled agent with a tarnished past who may just have the skills to take on one of the most powerful men in the world . If only he can save himself first .
CREATION LAKE , RACHEL KUSHNER ( JONATHAN CAPE )
Sadie Smith , a sardonic , strikingly sexy 30-something American undercover agent of questionable morals , is sent by her mysterious but powerful employers to a remote corner of France . Her instructions are to infiltrate a commune of radical ecoactivists and coax them into violent action , provoking the French state to crush them and their dangerous ideas for good . At first Sadie finds Bruno ’ s idealism laughable - he lives in a Neanderthal cave and believes the path to enlightenment is a return to primitivism - but over time she falls for his narrative . His ingenious counter-histories , his artful laments , his own devastating story become impossible to turn away from .
ENLIGHTENMENT , SARAH PERRY ( JONATHAN CAPE ; PUBLICATION DATE MAY 7 )
Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay have lived all their lives in the small Essex town of Aldleigh . Though separated in age by three decades , the pair are kindred spirits - torn between their commitment to religion and their desire to explore the world beyond their small Baptist community . It is two romantic relationships that will rend their friendship , and in the wake of this rupture , Thomas develops an obsession with a vanished 19thcentury astronomer said to haunt a nearby manor , and Grace flees Aldleigh for London . Over the course of 20 years , Thomas and Grace will find their lives brought back into orbit as the mystery of the vanished astronomer unfolds into a devastating tale of love and scientific pursuit .
THE LODGERS , HOLLY PESTER ( GRANTER )
After a year away , a woman arrives back in her hometown to keep an eye on her wayward mother , Moffa . Living in a precarious sub-let , she is always on edge , anticipating a visit from the landlord or the arrival of the other resident . But her thoughts also drift back to the rented room she has just left , now occupied by a new lodger she has never met , but whose imagined navigations within the house and home become her fascination . This is a story about what it means to live and love within and outside of family structures .
THIS STRANGE EVENTFUL HISTORY , CLAIRE MESSUD ( FLEET )
Over seven decades , from 1940 to 2010 , the pieds-noirs Cassars live in an itinerant state - separated in the chaos of World War II , running from a complicated colonial homeland , and , after Algerian independence , without a homeland at all . This Strange Eventful History , told with historical sweep , is above all a family of patriarch Gaston and his wife Lucienne , whose myth of perfect love sustains them and stifles their children ; of François and Denise , devoted siblings connected by their family ’ s strangeness ; of François ’ s union with Barbara , a woman so culturally different they can barely comprehend one another ; and of Chloe , the result of that union , who believes that telling these buried stories will bring them all peace .
DEAR OLIVER , SUSAN R BARRY ( BONNIER )
In this intimate and inspiring book , Susan Barry shares the heartfelt letters through which she and Oliver Sacks became friends , laying bare the meeting of two people endlessly intrigued by the world and its mysteries . When Susan Barry first wrote to Oliver Sacks , she never expected a response , let alone the deep friendship that blossomed over 10 years of letters . Now , she is sharing those letters for the first time . These letters are a joyful celebration of , as Oliver writes , a “ deep and stimulating friendship that has been a wonderful and unexpected addition to my life .”
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